Abstract
Since independence, at least 28 African countries have legalized some form
of gambling. Yet a range of informal gambling activities have also flourished,
often provoking widespread public concern about the negative social and
economic impact of unregulated gambling on poor communities. This article
addresses an illegal South African numbers game called fahfee. Drawing
on interviews with players, operators, and regulatory officials, this article
explores two aspects of this game. First, it explores the lives of both players
and runners, as well as the clandestine world of the Chinese operators who
control the game. Second, the article examines the subjective motivations
and aspirations of players, and asks why they continue to play, despite the
fact that their aggregate losses easily outstrip their aggregate gains. In contrast
with those who reduce its appeal simply to the pursuit of wealth, I conclude
that, for the (mostly) black, elderly, working class women who play
fahfee several times a week, the associated trade-off—regular, small losses,
versus the social enjoyment of playing and the prospect of occasional but
realistic windfalls—takes on a whole new meaning, and preferences for relatively
lumpy rather than steady consumption streams help explain the continued
attraction of fahfee. This reinforces the need to understand players’
own accounts of gambling utility rather than simply to moralistically condemn
gambling or to dismiss gamblers behaviour as irrational.